Deriving a return on virtualization investments means deploying effective automation techniques that can simplify the virtualized environment while allowing a policy-based deployment model. While many network vendors have chosen a proprietary path to automate network changes, Force10’s approach is to utilize open and industry standard technologies based on the extensible and modular Force10 Operating System (FTOS), across a range of the heterogeneous Force10 switch and routers portfolio.

Find out how to automate network changes in virtualized infrastructure by downloading this white paper

Server virtualization brings with it a set of network operational challenges: from configuration challenges around Virtual Machine (VM) switching to managing virtual machine mobility, to providing VM location and inventory in the network. There are few tools available to the network administrator that provides visibility, control and insight into the VM environment until now. Extreme Networks® XNVTM provides network-level visibility and control of the server VM environment in a hypervisor-agnostic manner and without requiring any changes to the server virtualization operating environment.

A typical “non-virtualized” data center has three network layers, Top-of-Rack, End-of-Row and Core switches. But virtualized infrastructure adds two additional layers—the virtual switch and blade switch—raising the number of tiers from 3 to 5. This significantly increases latency plus the number of network elements within the data center resulting in increased data center management complexity. I talk with Shehzad Merchant, Senior Director for Strategy at Extreme Networks, about Extreme’s flattening approach to data center network fabric through its DirectAttach.

Move a Virtual Machine (VM) from one physical server to another, and network port profile, VLANs, security settings, etc., have to be reconfigured. Many networking companies haven’t taken the critical step of giving complete visibility and control of the VM lifecycle from an infrastructure perspective. But with XNV, Extreme Networks is bringing this functionality and visibility to network administrators, tracking VMs and applying policy as they move throughout the network. Shehzad Merchant, Senior Director for Strategy at Extreme Networks, joins me for a discussion about Extreme’s approach to network automation and visibility of virtualized infrastructure through its XNV software module.

The increase in utilization of virtual machines and increasingly virtualized resources in the data center has caused a reduction in network visibility into the virtual infrastructure. VM Tracer provides the visibility necessary for the network team to support virtual environments and the automation necessary for server administrators to be effective and efficient.